Updates Mars Science Laboratory (Curiosity)

[IronRain]

The Challenges of Getting to Mars: The Cruise to Mars

 

[orb]

NASA / NASA JPL:
Mars-Bound NASA Craft Adjusts Path, Tests Instruments

March 26, 2012

Mars Science Laboratory Mission Status Report

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft, halfway to Mars, adjusted its flight path today for delivery of the one-ton rover Curiosity to the surface of Mars in August.

Tests completed aboard Curiosity last week confirmed the health of science instruments the mission will use to learn whether an area holding an extensive record of Martian environmental history has ever offered conditions favorable for microbial life.

In the second of six planned trajectory correction maneuvers during the cruise to Mars, the spacecraft ignited thrusters for nearly nine minutes today. Spacecraft data and Doppler-effect changes in radio signal from the craft, monitored in the mission control room at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., indicate the maneuver succeeded.

"It is satisfying to get the second maneuver under our belts and know we are headed in the right direction," said JPL's Erisa Hines, systems lead for the maneuver. "The cruise system continues to perform very well."

"We are now on a trajectory that will put us much closer to the point we want to hit on Aug. 5," added Tomas Martin-Mur, navigation team chief for the mission.

The halfway point of the trip from Earth to Mars will be April 1, in terms of duration. The mission launched Nov. 26, 2011. It will land the evening of Aug. 5, 2012, PDT (early Aug. 6, EDT and Universal Time).

One of Curiosity's 10 science instruments, the Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD) has been collecting data for three months, monitoring the natural radiation environment in interplanetary space. This information, particularly effects RAD has measured from recent solar flares, is crucial for design of human missions to Mars.

In the past two weeks, the rover team has checked the status of the other nine of Curiosity's science instruments, powering them on for the first time since before launch. All the instruments passed these checkouts.

"The types of testing varied by instrument, and the series as whole takes us past the important milestone of confirming that all the instruments survived launch," said Betina Pavri of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., science payload test engineer for the mission. "These checkouts provide a valuable calibration and characterization opportunity for the instruments, including camera dark images and a measurement of zero pressure in the vacuum of space for the rover weather station's pressure sensor."

Curiosity's landing site is near the base of a mountain inside Gale Crater, near the Martian equator. Researchers plan to use Curiosity to study layers in the mountain that hold evidence about wet environments of early Mars.

First, the spacecraft must get there. Today's maneuver nudged the spacecraft one-seventh as much as the flight's first course adjustment, on Jan. 11. After the first maneuver, the trajectory would have put Curiosity about 3,000 miles (5,000 kilometers) and 20 minutes away from entering Mars' atmosphere at the right place and time. Like that maneuver, today's combined two ways of using thruster engines while the whole spacecraft spins at two rotations per minute.

The spacecraft's cruise stage carries eight thrusters grouped into two sets of four. The maneuver began with about three minutes of firing one thruster in each set to change velocity along the direction of the axis of rotation. Then, to push the spacecraft in a direction perpendicular to the axis, each set of thrusters was used for five-second pulses when the spacecraft's rotation put that set at the correct orientation. The maneuver used more than 60 of these pulses spaced about 10 seconds apart.

"The purpose is to put us on a trajectory to the point in the Mars atmosphere where we need to be for a safe and accurate landing," said Mau Wong, maneuver analyst at JPL.

The descent from the top of Mars' atmosphere to the surface will employ bold techniques enabling use of a smaller target area and larger landed payload than were possible for any previous Mars mission. These innovations, if successful, will place a well-equipped mobile laboratory into a locale especially well suited for its mission of learning. The same innovations advance NASA toward capabilities needed for human missions to Mars.

As of March 29, the spacecraft will have traveled about 196 million miles (316 million kilometers) of its 352-million-mile (567-million-kilometer) flight to Mars.

{...}

 

[orb]

Aviation Week: MSL Flight Going According To Plan

 

[IronRain]

Robotic Arm Target Practice

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-qU0NWI0F5g&feature=g-u-"]Robotic Arm Target Practice - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Keatah]

This is REAL science! Just better hope this rover's descent system works correctly.
As a side note, if first two rovers were designed for, what, 40 sols?? And are lasting many years.. Consider that this rover is designed for 2 years; and we'll probably get 10 or 15 years outs of it!

I'd just love to see a manned mission with this type of endurance.. bwaahahahaaaaaa!! AAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHHRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooopppppppppfffttthht!

 

[orb]

NASA JPL:
Live Public Talk: Mars Science Laboratory Landing Site

April 11, 2012

Where is NASA's Mars Science Laboratory going to land and why? Join us either in person or virtually for a live public talk from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory on Thursday, April 12 at 7 p.m. PT (10 p.m. ET) about Gale Crater, the landing site for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory. The mission and its rover, Curiosity, are scheduled to arrive at Mars in August.

The speaker is JPL's Matthew Golombek, Mars Exploration Program landing site scientist.

The selection of Gale Crater as the landing site took more than five years, involved broad participation of the science community, and narrowed more than 50 initial potential sites to four finalists, based on science and safety. In the final selection, Gale Crater was chosen for its greater diversity and potential habitability.

Live streaming high-definition video of the event will be carried on Ustream, with chat available, at: http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl
Standard-definition video will be available at: http://www.ustream.tv/nasajpl2

For more information and viewing details on the lecture, visit:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/events/lectures_archive.cfm?year=2012&month=4

{...}

 

[orb]

NASA / NASA JPL:
100 Days and Counting to NASA's Curiosity Mars Rover Landing

April 27, 2012

At 10:31 p.m. PDT today, April 27, (1:31 p.m. EDT), NASA's Mars Science Laboratory, carrying the one-ton Curiosity rover, will be within 100 days from its appointment with the Martian surface. At that moment, the mission has about 119 million miles (191 million kilometers) to go and is closing at a speed of 13,000 mph (21,000 kilometers per hour).

"Every day is one day closer to the most challenging part of this mission," said Pete Theisinger, Mars Science Laboratory project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "Landing an SUV-sized vehicle next to the side of a mountain 85 million miles from home is always stimulating. Our engineering and science teams continue their preparations for that big day and the surface operations to follow."

On Sunday, April 22, a week-long operational readiness test concluded at JPL. The test simulated aspects of the mission's early surface operations. Mission planners and engineers sent some of the same commands they will send to the real Curiosity rover on the surface of Mars to a test rover used at JPL.

"Our test rover has a central computer identical to Curiosity's currently on its way to Mars," said Eric Aguilar, the mission's engineering test lead at JPL. "We ran all our commands through it and watched to make sure it drove, took pictures and collected samples as expected by the mission planners. It was a great test and gave us a lot of confidence moving forward."

{...}

 

[orb]

SPACE.com: Mars-Bound Rover in Home Stretch of Red Planet Voyage

 

[orb]

Universe Today: Take a Peek Inside Curiosity’s Shell

LED-lit image from Mars Science Laboratory inside its shell (NASA/JPL-Caltech/Malin Space Science Systems)​

{...}

This color image was planned by the MSL team, used to confirm that MAHLI is operating as it should. The two green dots are reflections of the camera’s LED lights, and the rusty-orange out-of-focus parts are cables. The silver thing is a bracket holding said cables.

So why is this fancy camera taking blurry pictures (and the folks at NASA are happy about it?) Since MAHLI is designed to take both close-up images of rocks on Mars as well as landscape shots, it has a focusing motor. But when it’s not in use — such as during its current 11-month-long cruise to Mars — the motor puts the focusing lens into a safe position to protect it from damage during launch, entry and landing.

{...}

NASA JPL: Where is Curiosity:

(The images below are being updated in intervals to reflect the actual position of MSL)

 

[Jarvitä]

As a side note, if first two rovers were designed for, what, 40 sols?? And are lasting many years.. Consider that this rover is designed for 2 years; and we'll probably get 10 or 15 years outs of it!

But unlike the MER rovers, this one has a firm expiration date thanks to the RTG.

 

[NovaSilisko]

Well, the Voyager probes used an RTG of similar construction - and Voyager 2 has been going for over 34 years. The rover won't be at full operational status but you can bet we'll be hearing from it for a long, long time.

 

[Keatah]

Well, according to this (And I'm too lazy to research any more now) the design life is a 2 year mission. And this mission begins with 125 watts of non-stop electrical power provided by the RTG. This specific MMRTG will still be putting out 100 watts electrical power at the end of 14 years.

To me, a decrease of 25 watts over 14 years isn't all that much! And surely the rover can still continue traverse operations on 100 watts! I don't know that for certain, but I bet the motivation system tolerances will permit that. It will probably be much like the voyager craft - not able to do as many things simultaneously as it did when "new".

Perhaps some instruments may not operate at full range and capacity. Perhaps some may not work at all. I bet some are consumable 1-time-use devices; probably the chemistry experiments and soil sampling stuff. Considering that, with good instrument use management and no breakdowns, I bet this rover will be running well past 10 years. Provided it lands successfully.

It is also sad to see that these types of batteries are near-taboo in NASA. They like to say they're all green and spout the endless advantages of solar power cells. Seems like Nasa has to pander up to them environmentalists again. Look whats with that Juno thing. It's huge! Solar panels bigger than a bus! Times three of them! Whereas the MMRTG would fit the bill in a package sized like 3 PC cases! And nuke power is needed for deepspace operations. If you wanted to operate voyager probes at Saturn on solar power, you'd need almost 16,000 sq. meters area! And a reduced activity profile at Uranus and Neptune would need 24,600 sq. meters and almost 30,000 sq. meters respectively.

Solar power is great up to the asteroid belt, but beyond that it's tough.

http://atomicinsights.com/2011/11/building-curiositys-power-source-at-idaho-national-laboratory.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Science_Laboratory#Specifications

• Power source: Curiosity is powered by a [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioisotope_thermoelectric_generator"]radioisotope thermoelectric generator[/ame] (RTG), like the successful [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viking_1"]Viking 1[/ame] and [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viking_2"]Viking 2[/ame] Mars landers in 1976.[37][38]

Radioisotope power systems (RPSs) are generators that produce electricity from the natural decay of plutonium-238, which is a non-[ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fissile"]fissile[/ame] isotope of plutonium. Heat given off by the natural decay of this isotope is converted into electricity, providing constant power during all seasons and through the day and night, and [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waste_heat"]waste heat[/ame] can be used via pipes to warm systems, freeing electrical power for the operation of the vehicle and instruments.[37][38] Curiosity's RTG is fueled by 10.6 pounds (4.8 kilograms) of plutonium-238 [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dioxide"]dioxide[/ame] supplied by the U.S. Department of Energy,[39] packed in 32 pellets each about the size of a [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshmallow"]marshmallow[/ame].[18] Curiosity's power generator is the latest RTG generation built by [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing"]Boeing[/ame], called the "Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator" or MMRTG.[40] Based on classical RTG technology, it represents a more flexible and compact development step,[40] and is designed to produce 125 watts of electrical power from about 2000 watts of thermal power at the start of the mission.[37][38] The MMRTG produces less power over time as its plutonium fuel decays: at its minimum lifetime of 14 years, electrical power output is down to 100 watts.[41][42] The MSL will generate 2.5 [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kilowatt_hour"]kilowatt hours[/ame] per day, much more than the [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Exploration_Rover"]Mars Exploration Rovers[/ame], which can generate about 0.6 kilowatt hours per day.

 

[Screamer7]

If this question cause roll eyes, sorry, but it bother me now since the launch date.
What if the rover, when lowered during the EDL, decided to act like a pendulum?
I think that scenario could happen.
Imagine if you lower a piece of rock down a string and it swaying all over the place.
The rockets would have a hard time corrected this swaying motion.

Maybe Urwumpe Rising Fury and Orb can answer this question the best because of their knowledge of this system.

 

[Urwumpe]

Maybe Urwumpe Rising Fury and Orb can answer this question the best because of their knowledge of this system.

First of all, swaying can be corrected by technical means, there are already assistance systems in testing for cargo helicopters and cranes.

Next, it is of a lesser concern for the MSL. There is more than just one tether and all tethers are spread over a wider base, so the whole thing is already a lot stiffer. Next, the decelleration by rocket engines will increase the tension of the tethers a lot and further increase stiffness. Also, the trajectory during landing will be pretty simple, without strong corrections after the deployment started. It is not like picking the MSL up, hover 500m and put it down again, which is pretty tough for humans and the reason for the development of assistance systems.

Now, you can be sure, there will be swaying. The question is just, how much. The landing will be over after a few seconds, there is not much time for the system to sway much.

 

[IronRain]

If you look at the video, you can see that Curiosity is pretty stable before being lowered/landed. I think it won't be a problem

 

[Urwumpe]

If you look at the video, you can see that Curiosity is pretty stable before being lowered/landed. I think it won't be a problem

Of course, this is just an animation for public relations, which is always perfect.

But the simulation results of such a system should also not be too instable.

 

[Keatah]

Software in the skycrane is similar in theory to this -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=cyN-CRNrb3E

and http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/...um-balancing-quadrotor-learns-some-new-tricks

 

[Screamer7]

If you look at the video, you can see that Curiosity is pretty stable before being lowered/landed. I think it won't be a problem[/QUOTE]

I watched this video over and over before.
In fact it is my desktop screen.:rofl:
After all it is just a video with a 100% good event.
The real life event will surely be different.

Thanks Urwumpe for that reply. It made a lot of sense. There will be g forces and made the tethers very stiff. (I hope not they broke lose).

Thanks Keatah, that videos is very informative.
I feel less nervous now about this skycrane idea.

 

[Urwumpe]

In fact it is my desktop screen.

Same for me at work, I use the configuration before deployment of the rover as desktop wallpaper there, so I don't get confused with being at home.

 

[Screamer7]

Same for me at work, I use the configuration before deployment of the rover as desktop wallpaper there, so I don't get confused with being at home.

So, at work you don't deploy, but at home you deploy?:rofl::lol::thankyou: